


keep your worries away (let me tell you a story)

by bokayjunkie



Series: Connect the Dots [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, arrow season 6, post episode 6x11
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-11 20:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13531899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokayjunkie/pseuds/bokayjunkie
Summary: When William can't sleep, Felicity is there to keep him company.





	keep your worries away (let me tell you a story)

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't think I had anymore Felicity/William stories to tell but apparently this show just likes to FEED my obsession with Smoak-Queen family feels. How can I NOT write anything after that wonderful episode?

It was well into the night when Felicity finally arrived home, which is why she was surprised when the door to William's room opened.

"Hey." she greets him with a smile.

William moves closer to her and gives her a hug.

"It's late, you should be asleep by now." she says, returning his embrace and placing a kiss on his head.

It's been a common occurrence now, ever since William found out about Oliver going back to the hood. He's been affectionate towards her, giving her hugs and staying close to her whenever they were together.

Not that she's complaining, it makes her feel so loved in a way she's never experienced before. It reminded her of the conversation she had with her mother after she met William a month ago. Donna mentioned how she fit into the role of mom so easily with him. At first, she brushed it off, knowing that her relationship with William was still new. Sure, the two of them fell into an easy friendship, however they were still trying to find their new balance; not just as someone who's in his father's life, but as a stepmom.

But now, Felicity can confidently say that she truly feels like William sees her as a parental figure; and she sees herself as one. She doesn't feel slightly awkward anymore when he comes to her to sign permission slips or when wants to sit next to her on the couch during their family movie night. Her heart never fails to melt whenever he shows affection to her, and he's been doing it a lot lately.

"It's 10." he states, pulling away from her with a frown.

"I know, and you have school tomorrow. Where's Raisa? I know she didn't let you stay up this late."

"No, I was already in bed at 9 so she went to hers after." he said. "But I couldn't sleep and then I heard you come in."

Felicity frowns. "Why can't you sleep? Are you having nightmares again?" Her hand went up to caress his head, a gesture that he seems to like because he leans into it. 

"No, they haven't come back." he shook his head. "I was just caught up in my book."

She tries to fight a smile, wants to look stern, but she couldn't really stop the pride that washes over her. William is truly an incredible boy and he reminds her so much of herself at his age. How can she be mad at him for wanting to read?

"Trying to conquer Lord of the Rings still?"

"No, I was..." he starts to blush and that got Felicity even more curious. "It was a book on how to code."

The answer took her aback, but the wave of emotion that washes over her is overwhelming. She knows that her face has morphed into a look of pride that's just bursting.

"Really?"

"Well you make it look fun, so I just wanted to see." he shrugs, trying to be nonchalant, but a blush is still present in his cheeks.

The startling amount of love she feels for this kid is just unmatched. She didn't know she could feel this kind of feeling. 

Before she can comment on it, William's face turned somber.

"But why are you here?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's 10 o'clock. Aren't you supposed to be at your headquarters with Dad?"

"Oh." now Felicity understands.

It's also been a thing that, most often than not, she and Oliver will be at the bunker doing their vigilante duties as well as looking for Cayden James. Most nights they don't come home until after midnight. It's not healthy and it's been putting a strain on their emotional wellbeing knowing they're spending more time in the bunker than at home with William. But it's been easier now that they're not lying to him. For the most part, he seems to understand; especially after knowing the kind of bad man they're trying to put away. 

“And where’s Dad?” he continues, looking behind her s though expecting his father to follow through the door.

“He wasn’t at the bunker tonight.”

“He wasn’t?”

“No, he’s still at City Hall going over some budget proposals.”

What she doesn’t mention is that there's another threat from Cayden James to him, as the Mayor and not the Green Arrow. That's why Oliver is at his office with Thea and Quentin trying to come up with a strategy so whatever threat Cayden James does to them doesn't affect his position as Mayor. 

“I was at the _bunker_ with Spartan out in the streets, but there wasn’t that much activity so we both decided to call it a night.”

Felicity can see the relief in William’s eyes, even though the young boy was trying hard not to show it. Despite the fact that he said he was okay with Oliver putting on the hood again, she knows he still worries. The fear that his father could be gone is still there and has probably increased; which is why she suspects that he clings on to her so much.

Knowing that his father didn’t put on the hood tonight has probably given him a sense of comfort.

She gives him a small smile. “Come on. I know what will help you fall asleep.”

William follows her and wrinkles his nose when he sees that Felicity has led him to the kitchen.

“Oh, don’t give me that look.” Felicity scolds, rolling her eyes, when she saw his expression. She’s behind the counter and putting a pan on the stove. “I’m not gonna cook anything.”

“Generally, it isn’t a good idea to have you using the stove overall.” He says gently.

“Is that what your father told you?”

“And Auntie Thea and Mr. Diggle.”

Felicity scoffs, looking offended. “Well let me tell you, I may not be a gourmet chef like your Dad, but I can make a mean warm milk.”

“Warm milk?”

“Mh-hm. It’s a Smoak specialty.” She continues to stir the milk in the pan as it slowly heats up. “Whenever I couldn’t sleep or if I was feeling upset, my mom would make warm milk and it would always make me feel better.”

“Huh… I don’t think I’ve ever had warm milk before.”

“Trust me, it will change your life.”

William smiles.

The milk only took a couple of minutes to get done. Soon enough, Felicity has poured two glasses of milk and then they moved towards the couch. She tucked her legs underneath her, having already removed her shoes the moment she entered the apartment. William sat next to her, nestling himself under her arms as they wrap around him.

This has become a regular position for them. Whenever they’re seated on the couch, William would always glue himself next to Felicity with Oliver on her other side. It’s truly amazing how comfortable he has gotten around her and she welcomes it whole heartedly.

William turns on the TV, playing some sort of late night talk show that neither of them are paying attention to it. He blows on the glass of milk before taking a sip.

“So… how is it?”

“Comforting.”

“That’s the point.” She smiles at him as her hand caresses his head. The two took a moment to take a couple more sips of the milk as they watch the TV.

“So,” Felicity started, putting her glass down and focusing her attention on him. “Do you want to tell me what’s really going on?”

William looks away, staying silent, also putting his glass down on the coffee table.

“Come on, I know coding’s fun and all, but it’s not exactly the most enthralling read this late at night.”

William let out a resigned sigh. “I don’t know… I guess I was just worried about you and Dad.”

Felicity leans back to take a good look at him. “Worried about what?”

“I know you two have been doing this a long time but…”

“It doesn’t get easier.” She finishes with an understanding tone. “And I get it. It definitely isn’t easy for me.”

“It isn’t?”

“Do you think it’s easy for me to listen and watch your Dad fighting for his life every night? No, definitely not.”

“But you’re still with him during those fights, right?”

“Always.” She assures. “I wouldn’t even trust anyone else to lead him into battle. I need to know and make sure he gets home safe, especially when he has you to come home too.”

“And you.”

Felicity smiles and pulls him. “I know your Dad pretty well and I know for a fact that he will do everything in his being to come home to us every night.”

“Yeah, you said you’ve known him for a long time.”

“I have.”

“How long have you two known each other?”

“About six years or so.”

“Wow, that is a long time. Has my dad been the Green Arrow that whole time?”

“Sort of… but back then they called him The Hood.”

“The Hood? Sounds kind of unoriginal.”

“Yes, well, the city was kind of lazy with names.” She says with a shrug. “Then, after, your father developed the name The Arrow.”

“Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing that name a long time ago.”

“Yeah, he was the Arrow for a while.”

“But didn’t The Arrow die? I know that was on the news.”

“Yes, technically The Arrow did die, but because we needed the public to believe he’s dead.”

“Why?”

“Because a very bad man wanted the city to believe that the Arrow was bad.”

“Just like what this Cayden James want the city to believe about the Green Arrow?”

“Yeah, kind of like that.”

William let out a defeated sigh. “Someone is always gonna be against him.”

“It’s one of the disadvantages of the job, hon.”

“How can Dad still go out there knowing that someone wants to paint him as the bad guy? And is actually successful at it?”

“Because your Dad loves this city and he can never not save it. Even when they turn their back on him.”

“Do you think they’ll ever think of him as the hero he is?” he asks with a sad tone. “In Central City they pretty much celebrate The Flash, why can’t they do that for the Green Arrow?”

“I think more people in this city celebrate The Green Arrow than we realize. They’re just not as public about it as Central City is with The Flash. But then again, this city has had a very rough history with archers.”

“I guess it’s easy to celebrate superpowers.”

“There’s that too.”

“If only they knew they had Overwatch watching over them too, then maybe they’ll feel more on board with the Green Arrow.”

Felicity let out a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure they’ll be more interested in my part time hobby hacking into government official database. Not that hacking is a good thing.” She immediately says in her stern, parental tone. “Definitely only use your coding skills for good.”

William chuckles. “Yeah, I promise I won’t use my coding skills to hack the FBI.” He says sarcastically.

“Good.”

“You’ve probably had a long history of having to hack and code since you’ve been working with dad.”

“Yeah… although the computer thing has always been a specialty of mine.”

“I think Dad mentioned that you use to work in IT?”

“Aahh yes, those were the days.” She says with a wistful smile. “That’s how I met your Dad, you know.”

“You also said something about a bullet ridden laptop. What was that about?”

“Oh yeah.” Felicity let out a laugh with a snort at the memory. “I guess we’re doing this now.”

“Doing what?”

“Me telling you the story of how I met your Dad?”

William didn’t answer, but he shifted in his seat, so his body faced hers, completely giving her his attention.

“It was about six years ago, I was still working at Queen Consolidated.”

“What’s Queen Consolidated?”

“It was your father’s company, well the Queen family’s company. So that made it kind of yours as well, technically.” She babbled. “Anyways, after some bad decisions, the company is long gone now.”

“Oh… is that why people always say that my family’s rich? Because we had a company?”

“That and because you grandparents were rich long before the company was even created.”

“So…if my dad was rich then, why aren’t we now?”

“Because most of the Queen fortune was seized by the city and what was left of, your Dad and Aunt Thea used to get by until they could get stable jobs.”

“Why was it seized?”

“That’s a story for another day, kid.”

As much as William wanted to know more, he also didn’t want to get into the complicated history of his family. He’s already heard enough from small comments in the media and from people at school.

“Anyways, it started out as a regular day for me, you know doing most of my supervisor’s job, when suddenly, your father shows up at my cubicle.” She continues, her eyes glinting as she told the story. “He comes in, put’s his Oliver Queen charming smile and I babbled about something stupid and he asked me to get information from this laptop.”

“Was it something for the Arrow?”

“It was, though I didn’t know it at the time. I was still a bit awestruck that I was seeing Oliver Queen before my eyes. And then he pulls out this laptop that, according to him was his, riddled with bullet holes. And you know what he told me?”

“What?”

“That he spilled late on it.”

“What?” at this, William started to chuckle at the absurdity.

“Oh yeah.” Felicity nodded, her eyes wide for emphasize. “And when I asked him if he spilled late on it, then why it had bullet holes he told me, ‘My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood’.” She lowered her voice to mimic Oliver’s.

“What?” this time William was full on laughing in disbelief.

Felicity laughs along with him. “Yes, those were his exact words.”

“And you believed him?”

“God no. But I couldn’t really say much because he was the boss’s stepson and his name was on the building.”

“So, what did you do?”

“I got the information he needed.”

“And you didn’t think once that he was the Arrow?”

“It didn’t really cross my mind since the Arrow had just started to appear in the news. But I did start getting suspicious after we saw each other again a couple of time, when he kept coming back to ask for more request.”

“Like what?”

“Like looking up information on someone or something. The kind of stuff I do right now.”

“But you didn’t think he was the Arrow still?”

“I didn’t know if he was the Arrow for sure. I thought maybe he was working with him or knew him or something, because it was all too much of a coincidence. But I didn’t really have any proof of it.”

“And you didn’t investigate it or anything?”

“I had other researches I was going through that took up my attention.”

It’s probably best not to get into the history with Walter right now. William’s never met the man, but he knows about him. He knows about his step grandpa and has seen pictures of him from Thea and Oliver and the Christmas card they got from him. But with Walter in England, the two never got a chance to meet.

“So how did you find out about Dad?”

“Well…” she hesitated. “Your Dad didn’t have a choice in the matter. He was injured, and I was the only person close by that he could trust.”

“He was injured? What happened?”

“I think that’s a story for another time, hon.”

“But-“

“William, trust me, it’s not a story that should be told before bedtime.”

William was quiet for a moment, coming up with different scenarios as to why Felicity is reluctant to divulge any further.

“Did he almost die?” he asks in a small voice. It’s the only reason why she wouldn’t be as forthcoming.

Felicity let out a sigh. “Yes.” She said. “But it’s not just that. there was a lot of complicated things that happened during that time. A lot of it is difficult to explain now, but maybe when you’re older you and your Dad can talk about them.”

This is not the time to get into the history of Moira Queen as well.

“Yeah, I guess.” He mumbles. “Is that how everyone gets introduced to the world of Arrow? With death?”

Felicity pursed her lips at his biting tone. There are times when his acceptance of his dad being under the hood again can be a bit sour.

“You know it’s not like that, Will.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He sighs. “I’m proud of Dad. After seeing what he’s doing out there and how much he cares about the people in this city, how can I not be? But sometimes I just wish it wasn’t so…”

“Dangerous?”

“Yeah…. It’s stupid, I know.”

“It’s not stupid.” She assures. “Sometimes people take for granted what your father is willing to do in order to protect them.”

“And that’s what gets me so frustrated with everyone thinking that the Green Arrow is bad. When I see the news people talking bad about him, I just want to yell at them and remind them everything he’s done for this city.”

“Oh honey, come here.” She wraps both of her arms around him, engulfing him in a tight hold. “Trust me, I know how annoying it is that people don’t see how much of a hero your father is. Some people will never truly know how lucky they are he’s out there watching over them. And that’s okay. You know your Dad doesn’t do it for recognition.”

“I know.”

“What’s important is that he knows that the people he loves most believes in him. And that’s what we’re here for. Like I said, I’ve known your father for a long time and I’ve believed in him for a long time. But having you, William, and having your support means the world to him. He has a whole new purpose now when he goes out there. You know that, right?”

William nods. “I do.”

“Good."

The two stays that way for a while, with William’s arms around Felicity’s torso as he’s safely nestled in her embrace. She combs his hair in a slow ministration that starts lulling him. when his breathing starts to even, that’s when she pulls away gently.

“I think it’s time you get to bed.” Felicity whispers.

“Hm…” it took a moment, but William managed to get up from the couch and drag himself towards his room.

“Felicity?” he says sleepily from his doorway, stopping Felicity from taking the half empty glasses of milk to the kitchen.

“Yes, hon?”

“I’m really glad my Dad met you and you’re in his life. Cause it also means you’re in my life.”

Felicity smiles softly. “I’m really glad to have you in my life too, Will.”

William gives her a sheepish smile before ducking in his room. “Night.”

“Night.”

Once his door closes, Felicity lets out a breath.

She will never get use to how her heart beats with such love for that little boy.


End file.
